Full Recap: 2026 Oscars, ‘One Battle After Another’ Wins The Night

The 2026 Oscars, or 98th Academy Awards, have come and gone as the culminating event for 2025 cinema was hosted by Conan O’Brien for the second year in a row.

One Battle After Another won Best Picture, winning the night after securing 6 awards.  Sinners followed with 4 wins and Frankenstein came away with 3 wins

In the acting categories, Michael B. Jordan won the award for Best Actor for his performance in Sinners.  He gave a heartfelt speech, shouting out his family who came to support, and pointing out that his dad came in all the way from Ghana in anticipation of this moment.  He also shouted out the special connection he has built with director Ryan Coogler.  Jessie Buckley won the award for Best Actress for her performance in Hamnet, taking the time in her speech to express her interest in working with her fellow nominees.  Sean Penn won the award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in One Battle After Another, the only actor not present to accept, and Amy Madigan won Best Supporting Actress for her performance in Weapons.  This was Weapons only nomination on the night, but Conan O’Brien did open the show dressed as Aunt Gladys, coming on stage being chased by children similar to the film.  Paul Thomas Anderson won Best Director for One Battle After Another, his fourth time nominated in the category and his first win.

Sentimental Value took home Best International Feature, the first win in the category for a Norwegian film.  Renate Reinsve, Inga Ibsdotter Illeas, Elle Fanning, and Stellan Skarsgard were all nominated in the acting categories for the film, and all had the opportunity to take the stage as Joachim Trier accepted the Oscar.  This is the first time a Norwegian film has won the award for Best International Feature.  KPop Demon Hunters won the award for Best Animated Feature Film, while The Girl Who Cried Pearls won the award for Best Animated Short Film.  Channing Tatum and Will Arnett announced these animated awards, championing the importance of the medium.  Best Documentary Feature Film was won by Mr. Nobody Against Putin, and All The Empty Rooms secured the win for Best Documentary Short Film.  Best Live Action Short Film was shockingly a tie, the first time an Oscar saw a tie since 2012, with the award going to both The Singers and Two People Exchanging Saliva.

The award for Best Writing (Adapted Screenplay) was awarded to Paul Thomas Anderson for his script for One Battle After Another.  The award for Best Writing (Original Screenplay) was awarded to Ryan Coogler, who penned the script for Sinners.  He took the time in his speech to recognize his entire cast and crew by saying, “…you guys are all winners in my book.”  The inaugural Best Casting award was presented to Cassandra Kulukundis, who did the casting for One Battle After Another.  Each nominated film in the casting category had an actor express their admiration for their casting director, with Delroy Lindo, Gwyneth Paltrow, Wagner Moura, Paul Mescal, and Chase Infiniti presenting on stage.

The “craft” awards starts with Best Cinematography, which was won by Autumn Durald Arkapaw for her work on Sinners.  This is the first time a woman has won in the cinematography category in Oscars history.  Best Costume Design was won by Kate Hawley for Frankenstein.  Andy Jurgensen won the award for Best Film Editing for One Battle After Another.  Rounding out the craft awards, F1 won Best Sound, Frankenstein won Best Makeup and Hairstyling, Frankenstein won Best Production Design, and Avatar: Fire and Ash won the award for Best Visual Effects.  The latter two awards were presented by Signourney Weaver and Pedro Pascal, as they shouted out Grogu in the crowd in preparation for the upcoming Mandalorian and Grogu, which Weaver and Pascal will both star in.

“Golden” from KPop Demon Hunters won Best Original Song, with the team behind the music and lyrics including: EJAE, Mark Sonnenblick, Joong Gyu Kwak, Yu Han Lee, Hee Dong Nam, Jeong Hoon Seo and Teddy Park.  Finally, the award for Best Original Score went to Sinners, with Ludwig Goransson taking home his 3rd Academy Award.

The presenters at the show consisted of plenty of nominees, former Academy Award winners, and even saw the reunion of some film casts.  Marvel had a reunion with Robert Downey Jr. and Chris Evans coming together for the 14th anniversary of the first Avengers film to present both screenplay awards, and Bridesmaids had a reunion that saw Rose Byrne, Kristen Wiig, Maya Rudolph, and Melissa McCarthy, and Ellie Kemper reunite for the film’s 15th anniversary.  Father and son duo Bill and Lewis Pullman also presented the award for best editing.

Other highlights from the show include Miles Caton performing “I Lied to You” live alongside cast members from Sinners, emulating the scene highlighting different cultures from the film, and Billy Crystal beginning the “In Memoriam” segment by talking about his friendship with Rob Reiner and his storied career.  He also took the time to speak about Rob Reiner and Michelle Singer’s role in fighting for marriage equality.  Rachel McAdams also took the stage during the segment to pay tribute to Diane Keaton and Catherine O’Hara.  Barbra Streisand paid tribute to Robert Redford to close the segment.  The show closed with a gag by Conan O’Brien as he emulated Sean Penn’s Colonel Lockjaw’s death in One Battle After Another.

A full list of the awards for the 98th Academy Awards, including all of the nominees, can be found below.

 

Best Picture

(WINNER) – ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER: Adam Somner, Sara Murphy and Paul Thomas Anderson, Producers

BUGONIA: Ed Guiney & Andrew Lowe, Yorgos Lanthimos, Emma Stone and Lars Knudsen, Producers

F1: Chad Oman, Brad Pitt, Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner, Joseph Kosinski and Jerry Bruckheimer, Producers

FRANKENSTEIN: Guillermo del Toro, J. Miles Dale and Scott Stuber, Producers

HAMNET: Liza Marshall, Pippa Harris, Nicolas Gonda, Steven Spielberg and Sam Mendes, Producers

MARTY SUPREME: Eli Bush, Ronald Bronstein, Josh Safdie, Anthony Katagas and Timothée Chalamet, Producers

THE SECRET AGENT: Emilie Lesclaux, Producer

SENTIMENTAL VALUE: Maria Ekerhovd and Andrea Berentsen Ottmar, Producers

SINNERS: Zinzi Coogler, Sev Ohanian and Ryan Coogler, Producers

TRAIN DREAMS: Marissa McMahon, Teddy Schwarzman, Will Janowitz, Ashley Schlaifer and Michael Heimler, Producers

Actor in a Leading Role

(WINNER) – Michael B. Jordan: Sinners

Timothée Chalamet: Marty Supreme

Leonardo DiCaprio: One Battle After Another

Ethan Hawke: Blue Moon

Michael B. Jordan: Sinners

Wagner Moura: The Secret Agent

Actress in a Leading Role

(WINNER) – Jessie Buckley: Hamnet

Rose Byrne: If I Had Legs I’d Kick You

Renate Reinsve: Sentimental Value

Emma Stone: Bugonia

Kate Hudson: Song Sung Blue

Actor in a Supporting Role

(WINNER) – Sean Penn: One Battle After Another

Jacob Elordi: Frankenstein

Stellan Skarsgård: Sentimental Value

Benicio del Toro: One Battle After Another

Delroy Lindo: Sinners

Actress in a Supporting Role

(WINNER) – Amy Madigan: Weapons

Elle Fanning: Sentimental Value

Inga Ibsdotter LilIeaas: Sentimental Value

Wunmi Mosaku: Sinners

Teyana Taylor: One Battle After Another

Directing

(WINNER) – Paul Thomas Anderson: One Battle After Another

Ryan Coogler: Sinners

Chloé Zhao: Hamnet

Josh Safdie: Marty Supreme

Joachim Trier: Sentimental Value

Animated Feature Film

(WINNER) – KPOP DEMON HUNTERS: Maggie Kang, Chris Appelhans and Michelle L.M. Wong

ARCO: Ugo Bienvenu, Félix de Givry, Sophie Mas and Natalie Portman

ELIO: Madeline Sharafian, Domee Shi, Adrian Molina and Mary Alice Drumm

LITTLE AMÉLIE OR THE CHARACTER OF RAIN: Maïlys Vallade, Liane-Cho Han, Nidia Santiago and Henri Magalon

ZOOTOPIA 2: Jared Bush, Byron Howard and Yvett Merino

Animated Short Film

(WINNER) – THE GIRL WHO CRIED PEARLS: Chris Lavis and Maciek Szczerbowski

BUTTERFLY: Florence Miailhe and Ron Dyens

FOREVERGREEN: Nathan Engelhardt and Jeremy Spears

RETIREMENT PLAN: John Kelly and Andrew Freedman

THE THREE SISTERS: Konstantin Bronzit

Casting

(WINNER) – One Battle After Another: Cassandra Kulukundis

SINNERS: Francine Maisler

HAMNET: Nina Gold

MARTY SUPREME: Jennifer Venditti

ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER: Cassandra Kulukundis

THE SECRET AGENT: Gabriel Domingues

Cinematography

(WINNER) – SINNERS: Autumn Durald Arkapaw

ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER: Michael Bauman

FRANKENSTEIN: Dan Laustsen

MARTY SUPREME: Darius Khondji

SINNERS: Autumn Durald Arkapaw

TRAIN DREAMS: Adolpho Veloso

Costume Design

(WINNER) – FRANKENSTEIN: Kate Hawley

AVATAR: FIRE AND ASH: Deborah L. Scott

HAMNET: Malgosia Turzanska

MARTY SUPREME: Miyako Bellizzi

SINNERS: Ruth E. Carter

Documentary Feature Film

(WINNER) – MR. NOBODY AGAINST PUTIN: David Borenstein, Pavel Talankin, Helle Faber and Alžběta Karásková

THE PERFECT NEIGHBOR: Geeta Gandbhir, Alisa Payne, Nikon Kwantu and Sam Bisbee

THE ALABAMA SOLUTION: Andrew Jarecki and Charlotte Kaufman

COME SEE ME IN THE GOOD LIGHT: Ryan White, Jessica Hargrave, Tig Notaro and Stef Willen

CUTTING THROUGH ROCKS: Sara Khaki and Mohammadreza Eyni

MR. NOBODY AGAINST PUTIN: David Borenstein, Pavel Talankin, Helle Faber and Alžběta Karásková

Documentary Short Film

(WINNER) – ALL THE EMPTY ROOMS: Joshua Seftel and Conall Jones

ARMED ONLY WITH A CAMERA: THE LIFE AND DEATH OF BRENT RENAUD: Craig Renaud and Juan Arredondo

CHILDREN NO MORE: “WERE AND ARE GONE”: Hilla Medalia and Sheila Nevins

THE DEVIL IS BUSY: Christalyn Hampton and Geeta Gandbhir

PERFECTLY A STRANGENESS: Alison McAlpine

Film Editing

(WINNER) – ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER: Andy Jurgensen

F1: Stephen Mirrione

MARTY SUPREME: Ronald Bronstein and Josh Safdie

SENTIMENTAL VALUE: Olivier Bugge Coutté

SINNERS: Michael P. Shawver

International Feature Film

(WINNER) – NORWAY: Sentimental Value

BRAZIL: The Secret Agent

FRANCE: It Was Just an Accident

SPAIN: Sirāt

TUNISIA: The Voice of Hind Rajab

Live Action Short Film

(WINNERS) – THE SINGERS: Sam A. Davis and Jack Piatt and TWO PEOPLE EXCHANGING SALIVA: Alexandre Singh and Natalie Musteata

BUTCHER’S STAIN: Meyer Levinson-Blount and Oron Caspi

A FRIEND OF DOROTHY: Lee Knight and James Dean

JANE AUSTEN’S PERIOD DRAMA: Julia Aks and Steve Pinker

Makeup and Hairstyling

(WINNER) – FRANKENSTEIN: Mike Hill, Jordan Samuel and Cliona Furey

KOKUHO: Kyoko Toyokawa, Naomi Hibino and Tadashi Nishimatsu

SINNERS: Ken Diaz, Mike Fontaine and Shunika Terry

THE SMASHING MACHINE: Kazu Hiro, Glen Griffin and Bjoern Rehbein

THE UGLY STEPSISTER: Thomas Foldberg and Anne Cathrine Sauerberg

Music (Original Song)

(WINNER) – GOLDEN: from KPop Demon Hunters; Music and Lyric by EJAE, Mark Sonnenblick, Joong Gyu Kwak, Yu Han Lee, Hee Dong Nam, Jeong Hoon Seo and Teddy Park

DEAR ME: from Diane Warren: Relentless; Music and Lyric by Diane Warren

I LIED TO YOU: from Sinners; Music and Lyric by Raphael Saadiq and Ludwig Goransson

SWEET DREAMS OF JOY: from Viva Verdi!; Music and Lyric by Nicholas Pike

TRAIN DREAMS: from Train Dreams; Music by Nick Cave and Bryce Dessner; Lyric by Nick Cave

Music (Original Score)

(WINNER) – SINNERS: Ludwig Göransson

BUGONIA: Jerskin Fendrix

FRANKENSTEIN: Alexandre Desplate

HAMNET: Max Richter

ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER: Jonny Greenwood

Production Design

(WINNER) – FRANKENSTEIN: Production Design: Tamara Deverell; Set Decoration: Shane Vieau

HAMNET: Production Design: Fiona Crombie; Set Decoration: Alice Felton

MARTY SUPREME: Production Design: Jack Fisk; Set Decoration: Adam Willis

ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER: Production Design: Florencia Martin; Set Decoration: Anthony Carlino

SINNERS: Production Design: Hannah Beachler; Set Decoration: Monique Champagne

Sound

(WINNER) – F1: Gareth John, Al Nelson, Gwendolyn Yates Whittle, Gary A. Rizzo and Juan Peralta

FRANKENSTEIN: Greg Chapman, Nathan Robitaille, Nelson Ferreira, Christian Cooke and Brad Zoern

ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER: José Antonio García, Christopher Scarabosio and Tony Villaflor

SINNERS: Chris Welcker, Benjamin A. Burtt, Felipe Pacheco, Brandon Proctor and Steve Boeddeker

SIRĀT: Amanda Villavieja, Laia Casanovas and Yasmina Praderas

Visual Effects

(WINNER) – AVATAR: FIRE AND ASH: Joe Letteri, Richard Baneham, Eric Saindon and Daniel Barrett

F1: Ryan Tudhope, Nicolas Chevallier, Robert Harrington and Keith Dawson

JURASSIC WORLD REBIRTH: David Vickery, Stephen Aplin, Charmaine Chan and Neil Corbould

THE LOST BUS: Charlie Noble, David Zaretti, Russell Bowen and Brandon K. McLaughlin

SINNERS: Michael Ralla, Espen Nordahl, Guido Wolter and Donnie Dean

Writing (Original Screenplay)

(WINNER) – SINNERS: Written by Ryan Coogler

BLUE MOON: Written by Robert Kaplow

IT WAS JUST AN ACCIDENT: Written by Jafar Panahi; Script collaborators – Nader Saïvar, Shadmehr Rastin, Mehdi Mahmoudian

MARTY SUPREME: Written by Ronald Bronstein & Josh Safdie

SENTIMENTAL VALUE: Written by Eskil Vogt, Joachim Trier

SINNERS: Written by Ryan Coogler

Writing (Adapted Screenplay)

(WINNER) – ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER: Written by Paul Thomas Anderson

BUGONIA: Screenplay by Will Tracy

FRANKENSTEIN: Written for the Screen by Guillermo del Toro

HAMNET: Screenplay by Chloé Zhao & Maggie O’Farrell

TRAIN DREAMS: Screenplay by Clint Bentley & Greg Kwedar